Old Friends
by Fatespeaker
Summary: Moon and Turtle watch the sun rise over a changed Pyrrhia. After going through so much together, they can finally share a peaceful moment and reflect on all that has happened. How did Darkstalker's defeat affect them, and what will happen to their friendship now? (Spoilers for Darkness of Dragons! Mostly canon, but ignores the big plot twist at the end of DoD's epilogue.)


**Old Friends**

Moon sat atop one of Jade Mountain's peaks, watching the light fade back into the sky as dawn awoke across Pyrrhia.

Her studies at the academy had been going on as usual. Thankfully, no other powerful, immortal dragons had crawled out of the ground to wreck havoc on the world, so Moon's biggest troubles had to do with finishing Webs's piles of homework and making wooden toys for Peacemaker during Arts & Crafts.

Qibli was out on a morning hunt with Tsunami's group. Since Moon hadn't woken up early enough to join (that dream about talking scavengers had been too darn engrossing!), she now had to wait to give him the ornament she had made as a Sun Festival gift. It was a silly little thing, definitely not a great work of art. Now she was having second thoughts.

 _Oh, I colored it all wrong. Why did I put our names on it? Maybe I should go back and redo it._ She frowned. _No, I don't have the time._

Just as those thoughts were starting to turn all anxious and dark, a friendly, familiar voice sounded behind her.

"Moon?"

She turned around, her face lighting up when she saw Turtle flying toward her. Her friend had just returned from the SeaWing palace, where Queen Coral had held a huge feast in his honor. It would have been rude to point it out, but Moon noticed that he seemed slightly chubbier than before, probably from all the seafood and sweets.

"Turtle!" Moon called back, waving him down with one of her sparkly wings. "How'd your trip go?"

Turtle landed heavily. He looked like he was still tired from his long trip last night. "Mother stuffed me like a walrus, and Cerulean hid squid ink in my crabcakes." He smiled. "But...it was fun." He teetered slightly on his talons, then sat down and beamed at her.

"The Sun Festival is coming up," Moon commented, as offhandedly as she could.

Turtle blinked and tilted his head. "What's that?"

"It's a SandWing holiday," Moon explained. "They hold it every other summer."

"Oh. Cool!" Turtle scratched at his chin. "Tsunami did say that we're gonna start showing the students more of the other tribes' cultures. I wonder if we'll be doing a SeaWing-style New Year's party."

Moon fidgeted before asking, "Do you think Qibli would like a present? There's this tradition he told me about, where the SandWings exchange gifts." Moon decided to leave out the part about the gifts symbolizing true love. "I made him something, a little trinket, but now I'm not sure."

"Hey," Turtle said, raising his talons defensively, "don't ask me for love advice."

Moon giggled and covered her face with her wings, embarrassed and wishing she hadn't brought the topic up. Talking about relationships always made her feel awkward. "Sorry."

Turtle paused, his gaze turned down thoughtfully. Then, looking back at her, he said, "He'll love it. He loves everything you make."

Unconvinced, Moon nodded.

"So," she started, smiling mischievously, "you and Kinkajou..."

Now it was Turtle's turn to look flustered.

"I guess we're friends? Friends who like each other? I mean, she likes me, and I like her, but I don't know if it's in _that_ way." He stopped and shook his head. "No, wait, we both...we're thinking about it. We're just not sure if we want to make it official, like you and Qibli. It's complicated!"

Moon nodded. "You feel my pain!"

Turtle laughed nervously, and Moon saw her own mess of emotions (mostly the ones related to Qibli) on his face.

So they were both trapped in the crazy game of young love. Moon thought about Qibli, and remembered how confident and sure of herself she felt when the SandWing was around. It was only when he wasn't there that she started to doubt herself and their relationship. Did Kinkajou and Turtle feel the same way about each other? Would they work things out? She hoped so. They seem like a good match.

Moon enjoyed Turtle's company. She liked being able to act awkward and shy around someone who, being just as awkward and shy, wouldn't judge her for it. They were more alike than either of them had first noticed, gifted with power they hadn't asked for and unsure of how to use it. Now, with Pyrrhia at peace and their lives back to normal-ish, she finally saw how deep and true their friendship ran.

"It's so different now," Moon said, "so calm. I like it."

She looked at the eastern horizon. The sun had appeared in a warm, orange glow, bringing new colors to the landscape below them. Gazing out across the forest, she could almost imagine that this was the first sunrise ever, that she and Turtle were witnessing the creation of light itself.

"You don't think another prophecy will come and wreck it all?" Turtle asked, only half joking. The nervousness in his tone brought her out of her blissful state.

"No." Moon paused. _Should I tell him?_ She sighed. _Of course. I have to._ "Actually, I did have that vision again..."

Turtle held up a talon. "Never mind. Forget that I asked."

He tried to make a joking face, but Moon saw a flicker of concern in his eyes. They were both thinking of the same thing: the unknown SandWing animus. It seemed like neither of them could get that mystery off of their minds. _I wish I_ could _forget_ , Moon thought. _What does this mean? Will we find out soon?_

"You know," she said lightly, hoping to distract both herself and Turtle, "Fatespeaker predicted that aliens will start falling from the sky."

"Ha!" Turtle settled down on a patch of cool, wet grass and tilted his head up to look at the remaining stars.

A wisp of cloud, stained with pinks and purples by the sunrise, drifted across the sky. The trio of moons was still visible in the west. Two were in their crescent phase, shaped like small smiles, and the third was a wide grin of a half moon.

A scattered bunch of dragons could be seen in the distance. Moon squinted, trying to make out their faces. There he was at the front. _Qibli!_ She started to panic, then remembered that she had already wrapped her gift and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So," Turtle started, "Darkst - , I mean, Peacemaker is still doing okay?"

"Huh?" Moon tore herself out of her reverie. "Oh, yeah, he's great. Hope and I brought him to visit the Mud Kingdom last week. He's just the cutest lil guy!" She frowned slightly at Turtle's look of disbelief. "You should really go and see him. He loves SeaWings, he calls them glowy-friends."

Turtle absently fiddled with his armband. The lonely dark piece in it caught Moon's eye. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe some other time. I...I've been busy."

What was he worried about? The spell had proved itself to be successful - not a trace of Peacemaker's old self was left in him. Sometimes, when she mulled over this, it saddened Moon. _We really couldn't save him. Even if we didn't kill him, he might as well be dead._ She wondered if that was what made Turtle so uncomfortable. _I can't blame him, then. But it's better this way. We had no choice._

"I stopped by Sanctuary on the way back," Turtle said, as if he had been waiting to mention it. "Kinkajou's still there! She told me that Winter's really excited about his scavenger project." His face fell slightly when he realized what he had just said.

 _Winter._ Moon was quiet for just a little too long. "I'll go there soon," she said determinedly, surprising herself, "I want to help out."

 _I want to help Winter._ She looked back at Qibli's still-faraway silhouette. He was flying in cheerful loop the loops against a smeared backdrop of white clouds. She felt a tug in her gut. She tried to push it aside. The sound of Turtle's voice helped her do that.

"It's weird," Turtle went on, "how we've changed. I can't believe we made it this far."

"Remember our first day of school?" Moon asked, cringing fondly at the memory. It stirred a bittersweet sort of feeling in her, beautiful and melancholy and the same time.

Turtle curled his tail around his talons. "That seems like a million years ago."

"I never had any friends before I came here," Moon admitted. "I never...I never thought I was lonely, back then. I never thought about what it would be like to be in a team." She straightened up, carefully refolding her wings as she struggled to speak her thoughts. "And it's kind of crazy. But it's better. I could never go back to living like that now."

She studied Turtle's expression, expecting to see pity or confusion. Instead, she saw something much more heartwarming: understanding. "I don't know," she said, putting her head down, "I just...I'm really glad I have you guys. I feel like you know what I mean. It's hard to explain."

"Well..." Turtle stopped, glancing away.

Moon followed his gaze and saw only the empty slope of the mountain. "What is it?" she asked. By now she had grown used to not hearing her skyfire-equipped friends' thoughts, and almost enjoyed the periods of anticipating silence during their conversations.

"There's this poem that my mother wrote," Turtle explained. "It's about the moons and the ocean. It says that they're old friends. That's why the moons pull on the water and the tides are higher at night." He smiled shyly, embarrassed by how much of a scrollworm he was. "I dunno, it just seemed nice and...relevant."

"I guess we go way back, then," Moon laughed.

They both focused on the sunrise, and a cool silence fell between them. Moon began to feel at ease again. It was nice, having nothing to say.

She craned her neck to catch another glimpse of the pale moons. They sat quietly in the now-purple half of the sky, as if waiting for her to fly up and join them.

 _Now would be a good time to go flying_ , she thought. She looked back at Turtle, remembering all of the times she had shared with her friends - the danger, the laughter, the teamwork. _Old friends. Yep. Sometimes it feels like I've known them forever._ And she wished that they were all here, to share this wonderful moment with her.

Turtle thought of the future, of all the days yet to come for their winglet. He wondered what Moon would see in her visions. Were there more wild adventures up ahead? Then he saw the morning light hit the dewy, wildflower-speckled grass, saw it turn the mountainside brilliant green, and he could think only of peaceful, hopeful things. He wished for nothing and forgot to worry.

* * *

 _Is there no greater circle of friends_  
 _Than the three of the moons and the ocean_  
 _Together in trust until the world ends_  
 _Thought they push and they pull quite often_

 _Indeed I have seen no older love_  
 _Than when on a late night's flight_  
 _I had the privilege to behold from above_  
 _The high tide bejeweled by moonlight_


End file.
